values-based architecture for environment, community and spirit

underground house steels creek

A bushfire-resistant earthship-inspired underground home, using recycled bricks from the former dwelling lost in the Black Saturday fires of 2009. This warm and light home generates more energy than it consumes. Sheep are used to keep the grass short on the rooftop, and the north-facing greenhouse provides passive heating, and the perfect growing environment for tropical herbs such as tumeric, lemongrass and ginger.

The home is used regularly as a classroom for high-school and permaculture classes, as an example of permaculture design principles, passive house design principles and carbon-neutral living.

This project was featured on Grand Designs Australia.

builder: steve retter | edd and amanda williams

project team: alvyn williams, barry o'brien

photographs: ben wrigley

dandenong ranges steiner school

stage 2 classrooms

A sweeping verandah provides an invitation into this primary school and creates a campus-like feel that builds a harmony between the old and the new. respect for existing trees and playground areas has dictated a complex floorplan, with the reward being a strong sense of integration with the landscape.

The use of natural finishes in this classroom project includes timbercrete walls, rough sawn timber, oiled parquetry flooring, fine wool carpets and earth based paints, providing a generous sense of quality. Curving rooflines and natural lighting provide a feeling of warmth and connectedness too the surrounding bushland, framed as an ever-changing portrait through each arching window. Northorientation and the use of steep roof pitches to suit solar power were integral to the roof design.project team: alvyn williams, carolina snow

cockatoo house

melliodora hall

"melliodora" is a latin word that means ‘scented with honey’ and this provides and a metaphor for the way nature, building and story combine to reflect the aspirations and values of a people, in a time and a place.

earthy colours and textures blend effortlessly with natural timbers and corrugated iron. surfaces are an undulating canvas for original render, mosaic, metalwork and fused glass artwork by local artists, reflecting the natural themes of box flowers, bees and honey, and the history and seasons of the region.

building materials have been locally sourced for their sustainability, their sense of aliveness and their durability. this ‘high country’ space inspires all of the senses, whilst maintaining the core values of sustainability and practicality.

oak hall

Curving forms, vibrant colours and arching roofs create a conversation with the rich warranwood tradition of organic architecture. This lively community building at the school entrance establishes a rich arrival experience, consolidating and enhancing the public identity of the school. wide verandah's create shade and shelter from the rain for children and staff travelling between cars, buses and their classrooms.

From a design perspective, the meandering layout of the hall with its surrounding walls, paths and gardens was a sensitive response to its very small neighbours in the adjoining kindergarten, giving a new dignity to the special trees on the site, as well as the intended use of the hall as a movement and performance space. The forms, colours and arching roofs speak to the rich tradition of organic architecture created by Podolinsky and Burgess within the school.

A palette of natural and non-toxic materials and finishes invokes a peaceful and generous sense of timeless quality. north orientation, high level windows and vents, rainwater collection and storage, efficient heating, natural cooling through thermal mass and ventilation, and a roof layout to foster future solar power and solar hot water supplementing was integral to the sustainability of the overall design.

strawbale house

An easy-to-maintain yet lively design, the house unfolds around an ancient messmate at the edge of the forest line. an outdoor kitchen has been set within the courtyards, and gardens provide areas for fruit and vegetable growing to the north and east.

Viewpoints from the house embrace vistas of surrounding mountains and contrast with the distant towers of the melbourne skyline.

With a reed bed septic system, solar hot water, rain water tanks, wood heating and outdoor wood fired oven, the house is almost independent of mains services. strawbale walls have been used for additional protection and warmth on southerly and westerly aspects.

Builder:

Earthline Builders

community house

Upper Yarra Community House (now CIRE) teaching and learning project

photographs by john bodin

The project comprised five teaching spaces on a steep site, and involved a tight budget and timeline. a practical and robust building design was required.

Our key intention for this project was to use the federal stimulus funding to support this community specifically; through the use of local materials and local labour. the construction manager (earthline builders) sought out local tradespeople for the works, and finishes were varied during construction to facilitate this.

The classroom design utilised the same basic room shape a number of times, with varying orientations and materials relating to the rooms function.

Soft loud house architects developed the “dream beam”, whereby small amounts of local materials (wood from the sawmill across the road) could be fabricated by local people, rather than the funds being directed to companies and shareholders or offshore suppliers. prototypes were built at our workshop, and physical engineering tests carried out to confirm that the deflection was acceptable.

These classrooms are energy efficient and practical, using natural but tough materials including fire resistant silvertop ash, rusty steel and roughcast lime render.

primary faculty

Three timbercrete classrooms, with lobbies, tutorial and seminar rooms, all linked with shady south verandah's continue soft loud house architects' campus infill projects at Little Yarra. The final project is a Primary Faculty building, with meeting rooms and staff facilities.

language faculty

potting shed

A recycled iron and mudbrick garden shed, built by the students and staff at this rural school.

kalorama house

This organic house, Quabara, originally inspired by a Gingko leaf, was developed as a series of levels cascading down the hillside to the east.

From the thick lime-washed walls and wide entrance doorway, the view of the surrounding forest draws one down through the house, with a series of decks and terraces connecting the inside and outside spaces.

The gentle curves of the walls and ceilings, and the subtle colours of natural timber and chalky limewash, create a sense of warmth and tranquillity, with generous windows in every room overlooking the lush landscape of the Dandenong Ranges.

The clients worked as owner builders with craftsman Steve Retter, achieving a high quality hand crafted finish.

Project team

alvyn williams, carolina snow

warragul farmhouse

A masterplan was created for this rural property to transform it from a dairying monoculture to an indigenous plant nursery. the house and farm buildings were designed to provide a rhythmic flow of garden and farm spaces across the site.

The organic form of the house, with its series of sensually curved rooms and bay windows, immerses one in the garden and the rolling gippsland landscape.

Locally-sourced tynong granite and radial sawn timber have been combined with eggshell-smooth rendered walls, to create a home which is sculptural but refined. the flowing redgum and ash kitchen was built by anton gerner.

Built by john davis and graham patrick in 2004, this house uses a reed bed septic system, solar hot water, rain water tanks, wood and gas hydronic heating, and is surrounded by pergolas, gardens and orchards.

mansfield classrooms

terrace house

This project involved adding some dignity, cosiness and nature to a late 19th century terrace house. Organic forms and natural timber complement the elegant rooms of the original home.

landscape design: laidlaw & laidlaw

builder: earthline builders

design team: alvyn williams, emi whyte

kindergarten addition

Upper Yarra Community House, Yarra Junction

[Photos John Bodin]

This addition to an existing Gregory Burgess Architects child-care centre reconstructed the access ramp, and added new spaces for child-care and staff facilities.

The curved "dream beam" roof forms make a connection with the more recent community house classrooms adjacent to the kindergarten.

Materials and finishes echoed the existing structure, and while the budget was not overly generous, the rooms are light and airy, well insulated and energy efficient.

The "dream beams" developed by soft loud house architects for the adjacent classroom project use small section, locally sourced timber, in the form of curved prestressed trusses, as an example of value-adding local materials with local labour to benefit the community.

project team: alvyn williams, barry o'brien

the crumble

A crumbling 19th century miners cottage was recreated from inside out, maintaining the sense of history and quality.

Energy efficiency - through thermal mass and insulation, double glazing and demand management, and the installation of solar PV panels have made this a very efficient small home.

The single-bedroom home has been extended with the addition of two 'tiny houses', reflecting the period character of the original home, but constructed primarily using recycled materials.

The internal fitout by Tom Neil and Don Willis complements the lime-rendered interior, and the extravagant recycled architraves and skirtings.

Externally, materials and finishes have been chosen to enhance the historic character and sense-of-place of Warburton.

project team: alvyn williams, pia williams

yackandandah house

This twisting, curving organic family home is set into a granite outcrop close to the rural township of Yackandandah.

Thick straw bale walls are finished in an unpainted lime-cement render, and radial sawn timbers left to grey naturally over time.

The burnished concrete floor has been ferrous-oxide stained, then wax finished, complementing the recycled brick and lime rendered interior.

"Roman airconditioning" supplies fresh air drawn from two metres beneath the ground, where the temperature fluctuates considerably less than the outside air.

project team: alvyn williams, barry o'brien

tibetan temple

A conceptual design for a Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Canberra, ACT. This project involved the design and development of a traditionally-inspired temple with ornately-detailed shared and private areas designed to passive-haus principles, using super-insulated walls, roofs and floors, passive solar orientation and heat-recovery ventilation systems. The temple provides a private rooftop garden for the resident monks, and solar systems supplying hot water and energy.

The surrounding landscaped gardens, designed and documented by soft loud house architects in collaboration with Peter Morgan includes a series of public and private spaces for ceremonies, rituals, and contemplation, providing a beautiful and naturalistic setting for the temple.

Soft loud house architects were involved with this project to the documentation stage only.